Tuesday, January 27, 2015

America's War on Everything It Claims to Stand For

What kind of nation scorns basic precepts free societies cherish?
Mocks them. Operates extrajudicially. Polar opposite what it claims to
support. Rewarding its wicked. Most reprehensible. Punishing its best,
brightest, most honorable and deserving of praise.

What nation has far and away the world's worst human and civil rights
record over a longer duration? Affecting the greatest number of people.

Which one bears more full responsibility for multiple global genocides? At home and abroad.

Which cares only for its rich, well-born and privileged? No others.
Which more systematically wants its middle class eliminated? Its working
population exploited as serfs.

Which one more disproportionately shifts wealth from ordinary people
to corrupted rich elites already with too much? Billionaires and
multi-millionaires. Making money the old-fashioned way.

Which one more egregiously supports wrong over right on a global
scale?Which continues inflicting more harm on more people than any
nation in human history? Which more systematically trashes its own laws on fundamental rights?

War criminals receive Presidential Medals of Freedom.
Multi-million-dollar book contracts. Six-figure speech deals. Almost for
just showing up.

Wall Street crooks go unpunished. Free to steal all they can.

Corporate plunder is the coin of the realm. Unprecedented amounts on a
global scale. Activists against wars, racial discrimination as well as
criminal, political, and social injustice risk imprisonment. Even death

Thousands of political prisoners languish in America's gulag. Others
are wrongfully convicted for crimes they never committed. Including
capital ones.

The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence is part of the
Innocence Network. Helping wrongfully convicted victims prove their
innocence.

Calling "life in prison a nightmare for those who commit crimes.
Imagine what it's like for those in prison for a crime they did not
commit."

For two 1976 murders he didn't commit. "Miracles happen in their own
kind of way," he said. Belately-obtained DNA evidence exonerated him.

On January 23, a Columbus County, NC three-judge panel ordered him
freed. According to the Raleigh News & Observer, he's entitled to
$750,000 in compensation for wrongful incarceration.

"I'm full up on freedom," said Sledge after his first free meal in a local restaurant.

In 1993, Larry Lamb was wrongfully convicted of first degree murder, robbery and felonious conspiracy.

Despite no physical evidence connecting him to the crime. Imprisoned
for 20 years. Until Judge Douglas Parsons vacated his conviction on
August 9, 2013.

Calling testimony against him "false." Saying "there is more than a
reasonable possibility that, had the false testimony not been admitted, a
different result would have been reached."

Ordered all charges against him dismissed. He walked out of prison a free man.

Dwayne Dail was exonerated after being wrongfully imprisoned for 18
years. For the rape of a 12-year-old girl. DNA evidence freed him.
Otherwise he would have remained imprisoned for life.

Willie Grimes is "free at last." After 24 years in prison. Wrongfully
convicted of a rape and kidnapping he didn't commit. Exculpating
evidence freed him.

Greg Taylor spent 6,149 days in prison for a murder he didn't commit.
On February 17, 2010, a three-judge panel exonerated him. Saying he
proved his innocence by clear and convincing evidence.

In 1995, Joseph Abbitt was wrongfully convicted of first-degree rape,
first-degree burglary, and first-degree kidnapping. Exonerated in 2009
after serving 14 years in prison.

These and similar cases aren't isolated exceptions. Thousands of
wrongfully prosecuted and convicted victims languish in America's gulag.

For crimes they didn't commit. Many on trumped up charges. Many
others for political reasons. In a nation proclaiming freedom and
justice for all. Police state persecution proves otherwise. More on
this below.

The New York-based Innocence Project explains "(s)ince 1989, "tens of
thousands of cases where prime suspects were identified and pursued
until DNA testing (prior to conviction) proved that they were wrongly
accused."

The Chicago Innocence Project (CHIP) calls itself "Watchdogs over the
justice system." Headed by former Northwestern University Medill School
of Journalism Professor David Protess.

Involved in "investigat(ing) cases in which prisoners may have been
convicted of crimes they did not commit, with priority to murder cases
that resulted in sentences of death or life without parole."

Prosecutorial injustice is rife. Courts most often are conspiratorially involved. Guilt by accusation suffices.

Fabricated evidence is accepted as real. So are confessions extracted
under torture. Multiple studies over the last half century show courts
punish prosecutorial misconduct in less than 2% of cases.

Nearly always just slaps on the wrist. Meaningless when ordered.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, official misconduct
bears responsibility for 43% of wrongful convictions.

Prosecutors have full discretion over what evidence to use or ignore.
Their job is to convict. With no incentive to reveal exculpatory
evidence.

Career advancement in large measure depends on how many bad guys they put behind bars. Innocence doesn't matter.

Americans have a right to know, said Kathy. A right to "seek redress of grievance."

"And having been in Afghanistan, living with young people who are too
frightened to go back to visit their own relatives, who see for
themselves a future that could be a prolonged, exacerbated warfare,
there is a grievance, and we wanted to bring that to the commandant at
that particular base."

Kathy is a consummate profile in courage and humility. All give and
no take. Putting her body on the line courageously. Dozens of times in
harm's way in war theaters.

At Whiteman against murder by drones. Affecting mostly noncombatant civilians. In the wrong place at the wrong time.

On January 23, Kathy's internment began. Continuing through late
April. Throughout her ordeal and what lies ahead, "90% (or more) of
(her) experience…depend(s) on attitude," she said.

Many others face much harsher treatment. Blacks, other people of color and Muslims most vulnerable.

"(I)nitial arrest often begins with…a 'night raid as armed police
surround homes, burst in, remove their prisoner from children and
families, often with helicopters overhead," said Kathy.

"(T)hen (victims) sequester(ed) in a county jail…with very little
oversight to assure" fair treatment. Some prisoners aren't given time to
say goodbye to wives and children.

Medical care is deplorable. Imagine life in prison without vitally
needed meds. Assuring pain and suffering without them. At times, life
threatening illness.

Asked how to support her while she's away, she urges helping Afghan Peace Volunteers (APV). Consider involvement in Shut Down Creech, March 4 - 6.

In winter 2014, APV began a street kids project. Initially for 21 local children. Now it's 30. Providing one school day a week.

Lessons in literacy, math and global awareness. Supplying kids' families with a sack of flour and tin of oil each month.

APVs hope to increase numbers of children and families they serve. In
a nation with one of the world's most immererated populations.

Quotes

"There is beauty in truth, even if it's painful. Those who lie, twist life so that it looks tasty to the lazy, brilliant to the ignorant, and powerful to the weak. But lies only strengthen our defects. They don't teach us anything, help anything, fix anything or cure anything. Nor do they develop one's character, one's mind, one's heart or one's soul." Jose Harris

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